(PRIVATE) AND OTHER SYMBOLS SHOWING ON WORD DOCUMENTS

[Guest]

For the first time ever, when I open some documents, I see on the screen
(PRIVATE) around some words and other symbols (tc \1), that don't print. It
doesn't happen when I open some documents, but a few that haven't been opened
in 3 years will have this annoying formatting information, or whatever it is.
I played around with some formatting options, but nothing seems to get rid
of it.

 

[Guest]

You're seeing field codes. Press Alt+F9 to turn them off.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Those particular fields probably can't be toggled with Alt+F9, as they're
Hidden text, toggled with the Show/Hide ¶ button.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

It didn't change anything. Then I selected all of the text and tried it
again - no change. ?? Any other ideas. Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See my reply.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

The show/hide marks let me add them, then remove them. But it didn't remove
the words (PRIVATE) and all of the other symbols. It is mainly on headings
and subsections titles of the documents. It also looks like it is added
permanently to text, even though it doesn't print when I print the document.
It is so odd; it's almost like a virus made the field codes appear and
translate, but won't allow me to automatically delete them. I started to
remove the additional text itself, and it allowed me to do that. I was just
hoping there was an easier way than having to go through the entire
document(s).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

TC fields are table of contents entry fields. You can certainly select and
delete them, with perhaps adverse results in your TOC. { PRIVATE } fields
are usually found in documents converted from WordPerfect and contain
information to help Word (or WordPerfect) convert the document back, if
necessary. If you have no intention of converting back, you shoudl be able
to select the field and delete it as you do any other field.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Did you ever get the problem solved?

The show/hide marks let me add them, then remove them. But it didn't remove
the words (PRIVATE) and all of the other symbols. It is mainly on headings
and subsections titles of the documents. It also looks like it is added
permanently to text, even though it doesn't print when I print the document.
It is so odd; it's almost like a virus made the field codes appear and
translate, but won't allow me to automatically delete them. I started to
remove the additional text itself, and it allowed me to do that. I was just
hoping there was an easier way than having to go through the entire
document(s).

 

[dely77]

My co-worker is having the same issue. The text {private} is next to
every title in a document. We used to use WordPerfect way back in the
day and most of these documents were imported into Word. We all use
these documents, however, my co-worker is the only one who sees the
words {private} around each title.

 

[Guest]

We just fixed the problem here. Have her do this: Close Word. Locate
'Normal.dot' file and delete it (The quickist way is to enter this in the
address bar of Windows Explorer: %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates). Then open
Word and turn off the Show/Hide ¶ button. Close Word and open agian.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It should not be necessary even to rename (much less delete!) Normal.dot,
thereby possibly losing years' worth of customizations. Just toggling the
Show/Hide ¶ button (or clearing "Hidden text" ) on the View tab of Tools |
Options) will do the trick if the { PRIVATE } fields are formatted as Hidden
text.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

No, the problem is still there. I deleted normal.dot, but I'm not sure how
you "turn off" the Show/Hide button. Is that under formatting? The typical
"reveal formatting" is not on, so I assume it is turned off. However, when I
open the old documents, the private is still there along with the other
sympols and numbers, mostly surrounding titles and subsections.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You turn it off by clicking it. If that doesn't do the trick, go to the View
tab of Tools Options and make sure that all the boxes under "Formatting
marks" are clear.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Graham Mayor]

It should be possible to delete these stray fields just like any other -
send me a sample document containing the fields to the link on my web page
and I'll try and see what it is you are missing here.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I've never had any problem deleting them myself, but the OP claims to be
unable to.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Nor me, which is why I would have liked to have seen the sample document.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>